X99 Motherboard Preview Roundup

Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4

RRP: £167.99

Specifications

• Expansion slots: Four 16x PCI-E (Two x16, Two x8, One x4) , Three 4x PCI-E
  
• Networking: Intel Gigabit LAN
  
• SATA Express support: YES
  
• M.2 Support: YES (Type 2 and Type 3)
  
• Storage: 2 x M.2 (one SSD, one WiFi), 10 x SATA 6Gbps
  
• USB: 8 x USB 3 (2 via X99 headers), 8 x USB 2 (4 via headers)
  
• Audio: Realtek ALC1150 115dB SNR

We spoke to Gigabyte recently about its X99 intentions and in short, it's looking to claw back some of the market share Asus has enjoyed till now. Judging by the two motherboards we've received so far, it would well make good on its plans. The GA-X99-UD4 is one of the cheaper X99 boards we're looking at today, yet it's feature set suggests otherwise.


It has a potent makeup of four 16x PCI-E slots and three 1x PCI-E slots, allowing for a ton of hardware to be built into your system. Interestingly, filling all four slots will result in a x16/x8/x8/x8 configuration, rather than x8 across the board, thanks to what Gigabit calls a Premium PCI-E x16 Lane, essentially tapping into the x8 bandwidth left over from a x8/x8/x8/x8 configuration when using a 40-lane compatible Haswell-E CPU - ie not the Core i7-5820K.

Gigabyte has also upped the ante on M.2 ports too, with two available - one typically for WiFi modules and the other, raised above it, for SSDs. There's also SATA Express support, beefed-up Realtek ALC1150 audio with a claimed 115dB SNR and a rather nifty lighting system. Called Ambient LED, it's essentially a customisable backlight for the audio circuity isolation guard, with the difference here being it can pulse to your music or just to a regular pattern. The chipset heatsink is also illuminated and to round off an impressive specification, the UD4 supports Thunderbolt, albeit with an add-on board available from Gigabyte.




Head over the page to see the Gigabyte GA-X99-Gaming 5